A hard-disk drive (HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that is housed in a protective enclosure and stores digitally encoded data on one or more circular disks having magnetic surfaces. When an HDD is in operation, each magnetic-recording disk is rapidly rotated by a spindle system. Data is read from and written to a magnetic-recording disk using a read/write head that is positioned over a specific location of a disk by an actuator. A read/write head uses a magnetic field to read data from and write data to the surface of a magnetic-recording disk. Write heads make use of the electricity flowing through a coil, which produces a magnetic field. Electrical pulses are sent to the write head, with different patterns of positive and negative currents. The current in the coil of the write head induces a magnetic field across the gap between the head and the magnetic disk, which in turn magnetizes a small area on the recording medium.
Actuator assemblies used to move the read/write head typically include, among other components, an actuator comb having one or more actuator arms and a pivot-bearing (or “cartridge bearing” or “bearing cartridge”) positioned around a pivot-shaft all within the central bore of the actuator comb. A continuing challenge lies with attaching the actuator comb to the pivot-bearing.
One approach may be to use an adhesive such as glue to adhere the comb to the bearing cartridge, however, when curing in an oven the mismatch between materials may cause torque shifts in the assembly. Further, use of adhesives makes it much more difficult to repair and rework the actuator assembly, as well as uses valuable assembly time and oven space.
Another approach may be to use a tolerance ring inside the bore of the actuator comb, thereby providing an interference fit between the comb and the bearing cartridge. However, the acts of fitting the tolerance ring within the comb bore and fitting the bearing cartridge within the tolerance ring-comb assembly may generate undesirable debris particles when forcibly pressing into the comb.
Any approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.